Introducing Men of Life

Melissa Bickford’s very first stamp set with us was entitled Women of Life and was immediately a best seller.  Everyone loved the way that all the women they celebrated in their lives were included, and also interchangeable with all of the different sentiments.  Men of Life is a highly anticipated addition to the original set, including masculine titles and even more sentiments that can be interchanged between BOTH sets!  Talk about versatility!
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Many of the design elements within Melissa’s set spoke so strongly to me that we asked her design a patterned paper collection to compliment it!  I’ll never forget the day I saw the files for the first time!  It was truly love at first sight!  The color combos, the bold patterns.  I can see so many uses for them!

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So for my project today, I thought I would marry the two and create a fun project that could be used for a new male addition to the family!  I knew I wanted to do something a bit different with my kraft card base, so I cut a wave edge to the front cover.  The interior of the card is lined with one of Melissa’s new papers.  Just divine!!!
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I wanted to create some pop to define the wave edge, so I cut a piece of red cardstock, inserted it in the card and traced the edge of the card front with pencil.
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I was then able to remove the red cardstock and cut along the line with some pinking scissors.
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When the red cardstock was adhered as a lining on the back of the cover, the edges lined up perfectly!
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Included in the new Men of Life set are many bits & pieces to allow you to do your very own boat building!  Fun stuff!  I used the sail outline image, heat embossed with white embossing powder onto spring rain cardstock (more about that later this week!).  The boat base was stamped in dark chocolate ink onto kraft cardstock. All of which were cut out and matted with a white circle.  A bitty red flag was cut from red cardstock as a finishing touch.
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Here’s the completed card.  I love the pops of red paired with the light blue.  They are just such a great color combo.  I know I’ll be turning to it more in the future. Notice the rule of three?  The pinked edge, the flag on the sailboat and the Nephew block are my three color pops, creating a visual triangle for the eye to follow around the card.
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A new nephew cannot be welcomed into the world without a few little gifts!  I found this great white metal pail at Hobby Lobby for $3 (you can click on the photo for a larger view).  It is the perfect size to hold a few small gifts and can easily be reused.  I embellished it with a monogram letter cut from another one of Melissa’s new papers.  Notice the special tag on the pail?  Just a little three-dimensional tag that I’m pretty darn excited about!

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Download boat_base_template.pdf

Here is the template for you to create your very own boats!  As many as you like in any color you desire!  The boat bases I designed are perfectly scaled to coordinate with all of the different sails that Melissa included in Men of Life!

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After cutting on the solid lines and scoring the dotted lines with my Scor-Pal, I applied pieces of Scor-Tape in appropriate areas, leaving the paper backing in place until it was time to assemble.  Have you tried Scor-Tape yet?  It is THE best adhesive for 3D projects.  I use nothing else.  It works just as well as red line/Tacky Tape but is half the price.  We will be starting out with my two favorite widths, 1/4-inch (27 yards for $5! That’s 19-cents a yard!) and 1/2-inch (27 yards for $7! Only 26-cents a yard!). 

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You also want to put to small pieces of tape on these two tabs on the reverse side.

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To begin assemble, you want to adhere the two side tabs to the interior of the boat base.

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Then the front end is adhered together.

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Finally, the two large side tabs are folded in and adhered.  This step is a bit tight.  You will want to use a stylus to help get the corners of the sides all the way in at the points.  You want this tight fit because it helps reinforce the sides and adds strength to the structure.

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The sail is adhered to a lollipop stick (you can get a package of 50 for just a dollar or two).  I had to cut it down a bit to get the height I wanted.  I used a hot glue gun to adhere the mast to the inside of the boat bottom. 

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I threaded a button with twine and adhered it to the top of the mast with a glue dot, leaving extra long ends to form my hanging loop.

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So there you have it! The little name strip was created with the Simple Alphabet; it’s a perfect fit!  Now you may be thinking that this set is cute and all, but how often am I going to make projects for little boys?  What about all of the older men that this set is intended to cover?  Be sure to read onto the next post to see what else I’ve cooked up for you!

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So, what so you think of the November countdown so far?  Are you in love with Melissa’s new offerings as much as I am?  Let us know what you think!  Leave a comment on today’s post and you will be eligible to win…

Men of Life stamp set

AND

Men of Life 8×8 patterned paper pad

This is a combined retail value of $32!  Contest closes at noon EST on November 11th.  Winner will be chosen shortly thereafter and announced here at the end of this post.  Please play nice, only one entry per person.  Winner is responsible for contacting Customer Service with shipping information in order to receive prize package.

Thanks for playing and good luck to everyone!

ETA: This contest is now closed!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

229 

Timestamp: 2008-11-12 14:29:20 UTC

Comment #229 belongs to:

Congratulations, Monica!  Please email customer service with your shipping information so we can get your package out to you!  And thanks to everyone else for playing!

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Lauren has a few things up her sleeve for using Men of Life as well! 

Melissa has been busy with her new stamp set too.  Check out her blog for details!

Lisa has a new set being released this month as well.  See what she’s been up to!

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Stamps: Men of Life (available November 15th), Simple Alphabet

Ink: Dark Chocolate Palette, Versamark (for embossing)

Paper: Spring Rain, Classic Kraft, Stamper’s Select White, Pure Poppy, Men of Life patterned paper collection

Other: Filagree white embossing powder, paper piercer & white gel pen (uniball), Swiss Dots embossing folder(Cuttlebug, Provo Craft), foam dimensionals, button from Buttons Galore, Circle Nestabilities, white lollipop stick, hot glue gun, Scor-Tape, pinking scissors from Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby)